Steelers Blog

For Isaac Redman, teaching ladies about football at the Steelers Dean’s Dairy Women’s 202 at the team’s practice facility was a no-brainer.

After all, it was a woman that first taught Redman about football.

“Growing up my mom was the one that taught me how to play football,” said Redman. “My dad never watched football. He doesn’t know anything about it. I have a good appreciation for women that love football. She taught me the ins and outs.”

Redman would spend Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching football with his mom, Leslie Redman, and she would explain to him the details. They would also go out in the yard, with her being the first person to put a ball in the running back’s hands.

“She taught me how to catch, took me outside and taught me how to do things,” said Redman. “She was the first person to put a ball in my hands. She was the first person who introduced me to it. She loves football and that is where I get the passion from.”

The event kicked off with linebackers coach Keith Butler teaching the ladies defensive techniques in the team meeting room, in particular what the linebackers do.

“It is a little tough for them to know what I am talking about, so I expanded it a little more than when I talk to my linebackers,” said Butler. “The linebackers don’t think I am talking Chinese, but the ladies might think I am. I was simple with it, explained things to them.

“It’s a good time. It’s a lot of fun.”

After that the ladies had an opportunity to see the Steelers’ six Super Bowl trophies, and then it was off for a tour of the team’s locker room.

“It gets us closer to the team being here,” said Dorothy Pack, from Elizabethville, Pa. “You feel a real closeness to everybody around. You get to learn the guys more up close and personal.

“Plus, now I can be at a game, whether it’s home or away, and I can say to my husband they did this or that. It’s because they teach you. You understand the plays.”

After the tour, it was down to business as Redman, along with Larry Foote and Shaun Suisham, provided on-field instruction for the ladies teaching them the finer points of their positions.

“I love it,” said Foote. “Those women are serious about it. It’s good giving them a little insight they don’t see every day. I tell people there is no place in the world where you can actually have a conversation about football with a woman other than Pittsburgh. You can’t do that anywhere else. That is a special thing.”